


Damsel

by ryuugalockheart



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, M/M, hinted sadstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 02:25:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3793126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryuugalockheart/pseuds/ryuugalockheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave notices that Karkat is acting a bit funny. So he decides to figure out the problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Damsel

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you're grossnasty sick and can't sleep at 1 am.

You could be mistaken, but in the two years you have been stuck on this goddamn meteor, you’re pretty fucking positive a quiet Karkat is not a thing that exists. Like, at all. You were Dave motherfucking Strider, you were never mistaken.

So you watch in bewilderment as said Vantas trudges into the kitchen and to the fridge. He leaned down and dug in the cool confines of the appliance.

You idly munch on the last few chips in your bag of shitty alchemized bag of Doritos and observe the unnervingly slow-moving friendleader. This was fucking weird. You frown deeply and pause your eating as Karkat stands up, is completely still for a moment, as if dizzy, then slowly places a jar of grub sauce on the counter.

What the hell was wrong with Vantas?

You pushed up your shades and cleared your throat. He ignored you, no surprise there, and reached for a loaf of bread from the cupboard. You set down your Doritos at the kitchen table and stare at the back of Karkat’s unruly head. You couldn’t see, but you could make an educated guess to the fact that Karkat was spreading the weird green slime onto a piece of bread.

You had tried that shit once. Once. And you will never do so again.

“Vantas.” You finally spoke up, mildly annoyed at being ignored.

You merely received a grunt. It sounded scratchy and pained and for a split second, you wondered if he had screamed at a wall or something until he lost his voice.

Praise Jegus.

Alas, you heard a garbled version of your last name among the grunt in the same monotone you had used. What the hell, he sounded like he hadn’t spoken in three years. And that was as likely as you letting anyone know of your secret love for classical music. And also the fact that you had heard him yelling at Rose the previous night was a thing too.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” You asked. You weren’t concerned. Pssh, fuck that. It was just unnervingly quiet when Karkat wasn’t barking orders or some shit as equally as pointless.

Vantas wasn’t a fucking leader, and he needed to get over it and quit acting like a baby.

You glared at him from behind your shades as he turned. He had a plate with two slices of grub sauce - it smelled kinda funny, even for the weird jelly - toast in his hand. He glanced up and you frowned, seeing his bloodshot eyes. For a moment, you thought he was looking at you. But he was looking past you, at the clock mounted behind your head on the wall. Not that clocks had any kind of relevance anymore, but it was emotionally comforting to have some kind of moral reassurance.

Karkat then blatantly ignored you and left the kitchen.

What the fuck?

You frowned, once you knew you were alone. Suddenly, you found yourself incredibly curious as to what the hell Karkat’s deal was. 

So you decided to play ninja like you did with Bro when you were eight.

You stood from the chair you were in, walking over to the kitchen doorway. You peek around the wall and are mildly surprised to find the hallway empty. Vantas wasn’t that quick, what the hell? You pocket your hands, Doritos forgotten, as you pad silently down the corridor. Silent. It was so fucking creepy when it was quiet. 

You would never admit it, but the thought of Gamzee potentially being anywhere right now was incredibly freaky. The guy had always left you with a foul taste in your mouth, but for some reason, he had delved deep to scrape up a pretty pure hatred for you in particular.

So fuck you if you weren’t completely justified in sleeping with a light on.

You then stopped when you heard a scrape of what sounded like a vent. Oh fuck no- wait. You peeked around a corner and blinked in slight confusion when you saw Karkat slide a plate into one of the many ventilation systems.

What the hell was he-?

When the plate slid inside without Karkat touching it, you suddenly realized. 

Karkat was feeding Gamzee.

Did he always do that? He didn’t always do that, did he? You don’t remember ever seeing him do so. 

Karkat shut the vent and stood, rubbing his apparently exhausted eyes. Karkat looked at the clock. He then coughed into his elbow and turned to continue down the hallway.

What? You couldn’t remember the last time you had been this confused. You were a Strider. Strider’s didn’t get confused. So to cure your curiosity and confusion, you kept following him.

And you did so until you had reached the living room. You had been there about twenty minutes before, and Rose had been drunk off her ass again.

In the twenty-minute gap, Rose had managed to puke her guts up and pass out. Classy, Lalonde.

But Karkat barely flinched at the mess. He just sighed and picked her up bridal style, placing her on a couch. Her god tier pajamas cleaned themselves, so he didn’t have to worry about that. You watched as Karkat retrieved a towel from his sylladex, mopping up the mess. You actually gagged. But he didn’t. In fact, he looked like he’d been doing this for years.

And then you blinked.

Because he had.

Karkat had been doing this for years. Feeding Gamzee to make sure he didn’t die, cleaning up Lalonde when Kanaya was off doing things. Alchemizing food when Kanaya forgot to. You suddenly felt guilty for discrediting his leader status.

Karkat rubbed his eyes tiredly and coughed into his elbow. Oh. You understood now.

“You’re sick.” You said, staring monotonously at the shorter troll.

Karkat jumped at the sudden break in the silence and looked over at you from the middle of the hallway.

“I’m fine, nookwipe. Go do whatever it is your species of stupid does at this hour.”

That was the most you had heard him say in hours. You rolled your eyes behind your shades.

“Fat chance, Karcrab. You’re sick. When was the last time you slept?” You walked over to the troll, ignoring how he bristled and growled.

“I’m not ill, now get out of my face-”

You placed a hand on his forehead and frowned deeply. He was burning up.

“You idiot, you should be resting.” You said to him.

Karkat scowled.

“I have better things to do with my time then lie around like a wounded barkbeast all day.” He snapped, captchaloguing the soiled towel he had used to wipe up Rose’s mess. “Leave me alone, Strider.”

Karkat glanced at the time.

“What the hell are you so concerned with the time for?” You asked.

“None of your damn business.”

“Like hell it’s not. Now what is your deal?” Your patience was wearing thin. Of course it was your business. You were the Knight of Time.

“I have a fucking schedule to keep, bulge licker.”

A schedule? Doing what?

“Right now I do dishes. Then an hour from now, I check on Kanaya and make sure she’s eaten something. Then I make her something because she never does. After that, I check on Lalonde and make sure she’s still alive. Then I-” Karkat stopped and reached out to steady himself on your shoulder, seemingly too exhausted to continue.

Karkat did all that by himself? Every day? You frowned deeply. No wonder he had gotten sick.

You turned and squatted in front of him.

“What the everloving fuck are you doing.”

“Get on my back.”

“No fucking way.”

“It’s not a choice, Vantas.”

You heard Karkat growl in annoyance but you felt a tentative weight on your back within a few seconds. You rose and felt Karkat push his burning face into your neck. He seemed so tired.

Karkat was actually really light. And that made you kind of nervous. The troll may be short, but he was, what, sixteen now? He should weigh more than 100 lbs.

You started walking down the hallway to his room, only knowing where it was because it was in the room across the hall from yours. You toed the door open, relieved to see it hadn’t been latched. Instantly you frowned. The room was a mess. There was shit everywhere, seemingly strewn haphazardly around the bed and desk area. There were some seriously random things in here.

Karkat had a whip coiled up and hanging on the wall, a fairy bull stuffed animal, two halves of what appeared to be a magic wand, a broken bow, and a bunch of other useless shit. But they were all hanging up on the back wall as if on display.

He needed to clean out his room. You were convinced he was a hoarder.

You walked over to what you assumed to be Karkat’s bed - a pile of pillows in the corner.

You laid him down on it. Well, you guessed you could- he grabbed your wrist weakly. You froze.

“. . . Stay.” He rasped. He looked so miserable. How could you say no to a face like that?

So you sat down in the pillow pile and allowed him to hug you as he fell asleep.

You decided to help him out from now on. A Strider can’t just leave a damsel in distress, now could he?


End file.
